BACKGROUND/AIMS: A significant increase in accelerated atherosclerosis risk have determined in chronic inflammatory diseases. Recent studies have suggested a pathophysiological link between inflamatory bowel disease (IBD) and atherosclerosis; for which carotid intima-media thickness (CIMT) and pulse wave velocity (PWV) has been considered as an early marker. The aim of this study was to determine the presence of early atherosclerosis in IBD patients without clinically diagnosed cardiovascular disease and any coincident risk factors for atherosclerosis...

BACKGROUND: There is an increased risk of thromboembolic complications in inflammatory bowel disease. Activated platelets play a crucial role in the pathogenesis of this disease. AIM: To evaluate platelet activation in inflammatory bowel disease. MATERIAL AND METHOD: This study comprised 20 healthy control subjects and a total of 20 patients. Out of them, 4 patients and 16 patients had suffered from Crohn's disease and ulcerative colitis, respectively...

Antineutrophil cytoplasmic antibodies (ANCA) constitute a family of auto-antibodies directed against various components of the neutrophil cytoplasm. The indirect immunofluorecence assays detected three fluorescent staining patterns: cANCA--cytoplasmic; pANCA--perinuclear and aANCA--atypical. Occurence ANCA is mainly associated with Wegener's granulomatosis and vasculitis, but they are also detected in autoimmune diseases (eg. in systemic lupus erythematosus, in rheumathoid arthritis, Sjögren's syndrome, in dermatomyositis) and in inflamatory bowel diseases (Crohn disease, colitis ulcerosa)...

BACKGROUND/AIM: The aim of this study was to compare magnetic resonance enteroclysis (MRE) findings with those of colonoscopy, using locust bean gum (LBG) as an oral contrast agent in the diagnosis and follow-up of patients with Crohn's disease. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Nine patients with histologically proven Crohn 's disease were enrolled in this study; MRE was performed within a week of colonoscopy. All patients were examined using a 1.5 T MR Scanner after per os administration of 850 mL of a combination of LBG and mannitol...

PURPOSE: To document the clinical features, systemic association, treatment and evolution of 23 patients with posterior scleritis evaluated in the Uveitis service of the Federal University of Minas Gerais. METHODS: 23 patients were identified with the diagnosis of posterior scleritis. Signals and symptoms, visual acuity, B-mode ultrasonography signals, systemic associations, treatment and evolution were described and analyzed. RESULTS: Sixteen patients were female and seven were male with mean age of 44,7 years...

AIM: To investigate a possible increase of basolateral expression of carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA) by interfering with the apical transport machinery, we studied the effect of cholesterol depletion on CEA sorting and secretion. METHODS: Cholesterol depletion was performed in polarized Caco-2 cells using lovastatin and methyl-beta-cyclodextrin. RESULTS: We show that CEA is predominantly expressed and secreted at the apical surface. Reduction of the cholesterol level of the cell by 40%-50% with lovastatin and methyl-beta-cyclodextrin led to a significant change of the apical-to-basolateral transport ratio towards the basolateral membrane...

Visualisation of the rectum, rectoanal junction and adjacent structures is very demanding and challenging both with technical and medical side. Local staging of rectal and anal tumor and perianal neoplasm by conventional and sibgle slice CT or by barium enema study is not so valuable. These methods can not visualise fistulous communication in inflamatory bowel diseases and have not any role in evaluation of fecal incontinence. During last decade, endoscopic ultrasound and magnetic resonance imaging have been recognised as methods of choice in establishing diagnosis of rectal, perirectal, anal and perianal diseases...

Sulphate-reducing organisms are widespread in anaerobic enviroments, including the gastrointestinal tract of man and other animals. The study of these bacteria has attracted much attention over the years, due also to the fact that they can have important implications in industry (in biocorrosion and souring of oil and gas deposits), health (in inflamatory bowel diseases) and the environment (bioremediation). The characterization of the various components of the electron transport chain associated with the hydrogen metabolism in Desulfovibrio has generated a large and comprehensive list of studies...

The study revealed changes in the oesophagogastroduodenal mucosa in 110 patients with IBD; in 60.9% of cases these changes were associated with Helicobacter pylori. 35 patients with IBD were examined to form two groups. The first group (20 patients) received rabeprazol (pariet) in a dose of 20 mg per day; the rest 15 patients were administered 120 mg of de-nol four times a day; amoxicicline and furazolidon were used as additional therapy in cases with Helicobacter pylori. The study showed that successful eradication did not always result in erosion epithelization but, on the contrary, only 40% cases of clinical and endoscopic remission were associated with Helicobacter pylori elimination...

40 year-old male recently diagnosed with Crohn's disease. A routine chest X ray showed a round, well defined opacity in right lung field. A chest CT scan confirmed the finding and also described bronchiectasis. Patient had no respiratory symptoms. He was prescribed with oral sulfasalazine and corticosteroids with rapid improvement of intestinal symptoms as well as resolution of the pulmonary opacity. We describe the clinical presentation of a male newly diagnosed with Crohn's disease who was found to have an asymptomatic pulmonary lesion on imaging studies...

Interleukin-10 (IL-10) has a key role in regulating mucosal inflammation. The role of functional polymorphisms at positions -627 and -1117 in the IL-10 gene as candidate susceptibility loci in inflammatory bowel disease and their importance in determining disease extent were evaluated in 159 patients with ulcerative colitis (83 left-sided; 76 extensive), 90 patients with Crohn's disease (22 small bowel; 29 large bowel; 39 both), and 227 controls. Genotyping was performed either by PCR-RFLP assays (-627 site) or SSCP analysis (-1117 site)...

Corticosteroids and the 5-aminosalicylate (5-ASA) drugs still constitute the mainstays of therapy, with azatioprine/mercaptopurine an established second-line agent for resistant disease. Primarily nutritional therapy has a place for some patients with Crohn's disease, and alternative immunosupressants are finding their own disease. The medical management of inflammatory bowel diseases is poised to enter to new era if the current promise shown by investigatory immunomodulatory regimes translates into confirmed effective therapy...

An NcoI restriction fragment length polymorphism in the first intron of the lymphotoxin alpha gene was investigated in 35 patients with Crohn's disease, 40 patients with ulcerative colitis, and 30 unrelated healthy controls, all of Dutch origin. The results showed that no significant differences existed in the genotype frequencies of the NcoI polymorphism in the first intron of the LT alpha gene between ulcerative colitis patients or Crohn's disease patients and the healthy controls. The study indicates that the NcoI polymorphism in the LT alpha gene can not be used as a genetic marker for the predisposition to inflammatory bowel diseases...